Thursday, August 01, 2013

July Ties For Tenth Warmest Overall

While July was still a rather warm month compared to average, it is the coolest July we've had in four years. It's all relative, of course, but July 2013 ended up coming in at 80.6 degrees for the month, 1.2 degrees cooler than last year and tied for tenth warmest on modern record in Philadelphia (it's rounded into a tie with 1887 but 1887's average is just a few hundredths of a degree higher).

2013 is the fourth year in a row where July hit or exceeded 80 for an average monthly temperature, a first for Philadelphia in terms of streaks of years where we've accomplished such a "feat" in a given month. Prior record was three in a row from 1993 to 1995. While we didn't hit the warmest on record, set in July 2011, it was still quite warm and oppressive.

One record it looks like we did not set was for warmest average low. Philadelphia's average low at night was 73.1 degrees, with the old record set in 1994 at 73.4 degrees. We came close but our stretch of relatively more comfortable days to close out the month, save for Sunday, allowed us to slip under the record setting barrier.